Business Forum • 10 June, 2026 at 12:03 PM
The EU unemployment rate rose slightly to 6.0% in 2025, up from 5.9% in 2024, according to new data covering people aged 15-74 in the labour force, according to Eurostat.
Spain recorded the highest unemployment rate at 10.5%, followed by Finland at 9.7% and Greece at 8.9%. Romania's rate stood at 6.1%, in line with the EU average. At the other end of the scale, Czechia had the lowest rate at 2.8%, with Poland and Malta both at 3.1%.
Educational attainment continues to play a significant role in employment prospects across the EU. People aged 25-74 with low educational qualifications faced an unemployment rate of 10.5%, compared to 4.7% for those with medium education and 3.6% for highly educated individuals.
The education gap was most pronounced in Slovakia, where unemployment among those with low education reached 38.8% compared to just 2.1% for highly educated workers - a difference of 36.7 percentage points. Sweden showed a 14.9 percentage point gap (20.0% vs 5.1%), whilst Finland recorded a 13.9 percentage point difference (18.8% vs 4.9%).
These figures highlight the persistent challenge of unemployment inequality across different education levels within the European labour market.